i got picked!

today a lovely fellow etsy seller shellie picked one of my items to be in a collection. so cool to see my li'l ol' earrings in with their etsy friends! they were a variation on these:

in the meantime, i'm looking forward to making more of these for all the babies being made these days...

goods for girls

some of you may have seen those 'tampax' and  'always' commercials that talk about girls in south africa missing school because they don't have adequate protection during their period. the maker of disposable maxi pads claims that they donate a portion of proceeds to providing young women with supplies so they can attend school.

i hope i am not the only one who sees a problem with providing a developing country with a product that just makes more plastic waste. waste that is most likely going to be burned, releasing toxic chemicals into the atmosphere. it occurred to me pretty quickly that reusable pads might make a more logical and sustainable solution to this problem.

well, i'm (thankfully) not the only one who thought of this! an organization based in seattle called Goods 4 Girls is accepting donations of new reusable pads, as well as money, to provide women in several african countries with menstrual supplies.

you know what's even MORE awesome? our own vancouver-based Lunapads is offering a special discounted supply kit that will be sent directly to the Goods 4 Girls organization.

for all you crafty types out there, the Goods 4 Girls site has a bunch of patterns for making reusable pads. so grab some of those scraps of soft cotton you have lying around and make a maxi or two! i know i will.

let's not allow another global multi-national corporation to impose their products on developing nations.

my valentine

inspired by the idea of a valentine's challenge, i made a mini quilt. easy peasy pre-quilted heart fabric + appliqued heart of a screen-print of a bmx bike + a strip of fabric patchwork = valentine to myself. an ode to my love affair with a little red bmx (technically caitlin's bmx).

vancity etsy team

on sunday i met up with the lovely ladies of etsy vancouver for a promo swap and chin wag. look at how cute everyone is --the photo has smart little notes linking to each person's etsy shop.

for the occasion, i put all my leather leaf and clock hand earrings into my wee blue suitcase to bring along. i thought they looked all cute and cozy in there.

buy nothing

i recently participated in a swap on craftster.org called the "buy nothing swap". the idea was to craft for your swap partner using only the supplies you already owned. okay, so it wasn't that hard for me, the owner of probably the most amount of junk/craft supplies anyone could fit into a one-room apartment!

in a world where every magazine, tv commercial, and billboard tells us that our happiness is contingent on just one more purchased object, i like that the fun of this swap was to remind ourselves of what we can create using the stuff we already have.

here are some of the things i created. in case it's hard to read, the inside of the powerline messenger bag reads: "consumerism is not the answer. don't buy it."

up and running

so i finally jumped on the ETSY bandwagon and opened a shop. i've only posted a couple of items at this point, but i'm hoping to find a little more motivation to make things in the near future. the warm spring weather is still a long way off around here. check the link up over there ------->

let's call it the patchwork collection

the apple pillow. screenprint made by me.
log cabin pillow.
hot pad with matching fabric magnets.

a little update on the crafty front

a little vinyl elephant pouch













a messenger bag i made for a craftster swap












a messenger style denim purse that i free-motion machine embroidered. it's lined in turquoise and has a zippered pocket.

folk fest success!

just wanted to update with a few of my most recent designs. quite a few bags and purses sold at the folk fest this year-- not bad for a lazy sunday!

i've been experimenting with machine embroidery which i do believe will be my new addiction. it's like drawing with a needle and thread, so fun.

artFIBERfest

soooo, about 2 weeks ago i packed up my trusty cherry-red-vehicle and drove down to issaquah washington for the first art retreat i've ever attended called artFIBERfest. it's a super rad event organized by the super rad teesha moore (http://www.teeshamoore.com/) and it consisted of 3 full-day workshops all with a fiber theme.

i took traci bautista's 'big sac' workshop which was all about freestyle fabric painting and random sewing machine construction.

here it is in progress before being sewn up and a shot of traci talking about different fabric painting techniques




the next class was kristin steiner's 'tiny triptych of self-knowing' which is a work-in-progress still...

then i took dj pettitt's 'travelling chic' purse class. she taught the coolest technique using tar gel acrylic medium and iron heat to create a sealed collage.

sweetie pie dj, the kindest, most helpful teacher.


here's me and one part of the finished product from dj's class. i'm looking a little worn out at the end of day 3


all in all, it was an awesome, magical, & inspiring time; something i am glad i took the chance to try on my own. i'm defnitely planning to return next year...

more photos can be found on my flickr site
http://www.flickr.com/photos/54469047@N00/

printed shirts

there's something about birds and branches that i can't seem to get away from...




these were all for craftster swaps or presents. fortunately i still have all the screens so printing on anything is pretty easy. i haven't quite figured out the right way to print on paper yet though...

here is a short history of my vinyl creations

the first bird and branch wristlet

the second bird and branch wristlet

branches and leaves pouch

one little whale

a tree with blossoms purse


and the latest bird and branch wristlet (these seem to be popular!)

i'm hoping to do more custom stuff and orders from the public, but i don't really have the resources to set up any type of online business at this point. email me at k8kre8s@yahoo.ca if you're interested in ordering something.